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| 2 | 2 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3940 FILED ON: 1/20/2023 |
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| 3 | 3 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1403 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | Antonio F. D. Cabral |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act relative to transparency in clerk magistrate hearings. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:Antonio F. D. Cabral13th Bristol1/20/2023Christopher Hendricks11th Bristol1/26/2023Paul A. Schmid, III8th Bristol2/1/2023Vanna Howard17th Middlesex2/1/2023 1 of 1 |
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| 16 | 16 | | HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3940 FILED ON: 1/20/2023 |
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| 17 | 17 | | HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1403 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Representative Cabral of New Bedford, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1403) of |
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| 19 | 19 | | Antonio F. D. Cabral and others for legislation to further regulate clerk magistrate hearings. The |
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| 20 | 20 | | Judiciary. |
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| 21 | 21 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 22 | 22 | | _______________ |
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| 23 | 23 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court |
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| 24 | 24 | | (2023-2024) |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | An Act relative to transparency in clerk magistrate hearings. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 28 | 28 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 29 | 29 | | 1 Section 35A of chapter 218 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020 Official |
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| 30 | 30 | | 2Edition, is hereby amended by inserting the following paragraph: |
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| 31 | 31 | | 3 Any hearing held pursuant to this section, and any record associated with such hearing |
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| 32 | 32 | | 4shall be presumed to be open to the public unless the court, or said officer thereof, makes a |
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| 33 | 33 | | 5written finding, for good cause shown, that the defendant’s interest in privacy outweighs the |
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| 34 | 34 | | 6public’s right of access. Any such finding shall be made only after a hearing on the record, in |
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| 35 | 35 | | 7which the court may permit an interested non-party, who files a notice of appearance limited to |
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| 36 | 36 | | 8participation in the proceeding, to be heard. Any such finding shall state with specificity the |
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| 37 | 37 | | 9reason for closing the hearing and shall be narrowly tailored to said reason. All hearings held |
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| 38 | 38 | | 10pursuant to this section shall be taken stenographically or recorded and transcribed. |
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| 39 | 39 | | 11 |
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